I plan to leave my mark on the baseball world; this is where it all begins.

Portland Press Pass

Sorry for the lack between entries. I intended to write about my Portland adventures much sooner, but I went on a fairly impromptu trip to North Carolina to visit some colleges. I have to tell you, I absolutely loved everything about UNC Chapel Hill: It’s a beautiful campus, Franklin Street is just the kind of “downtown” I’m looking for, its school spirit is unparalleled, and its journalism program is fantastic.

When I was writing my last entry about my Pawtucket experiences, I was wondering if I should include summaries about the games, or maybe scouting reports. It would not have been that hard considering I scored the games and did my best to record the pitches. I decided not to, though, because I figured my experience actually working the game was what I was trying to convey.

Well, in Portland, I can actually give you both my experiences working the games, and the game stories–without looking at my scoring sheets. All I have to do is post a link. My first day in Portland, I was learning the ropes, and what not, which I’ll get to in a second. But on the second day, Chris Cameron, the head of the media relations department, asked me, “Do you want to write the game story tonight?”

Sea Dogs Fall to Harrisburg 7-5, Snapping Win Streak at Six : That’s my first official article for the Red Sox Organization. To see an article I had written with my name on it on the Sea Dogs’ website? That was pretty surreal. To be honest with you though, I was so nervous writing this article. It wasn’t just a blog anymore: this was the real deal. I think I wanted to make myself sound good rather than just letting the words flow, like I normally do. I was so conscious of the fact that I was writing for the website, that I may have lost a little bit of whatever unique spin I normally put on my writing.

Weiland Tosses Gem, Dogs Fall 2-1: This was my favorite article to write. You might even be able to tell from reading it that I felt more comfortable with it, and perhaps more confident with myself. Of the three articles I wrote, I think that this one came out the best. If Kyle Weiland tosses a gem, I’ll write him one. That’s something I learned about myself in Portland, and certainly something I have to work on. I can’t just write gems if someone throws a gem, or if the team plays a spectacular game. I want to be able to crank out gems all the time, win or lose.

Senators Roll Past Sea Dogs, 10-3: This was a pretty ugly game, as you can see. Something else that I learned in both Pawtucket and Portland is that nearly all of the writers have their game stories finished before the end of the game, like around the seventh inning. The reason you can do that is because you have a pretty good idea of the game after the starter comes out. I had my dismal game story finished by the bottom of the seventh. The Sea Dogs scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth. I had to change my game story. That’s another thing: you can get kind of cynical when you’re a sports writer, though I’m not quite at this point yet (I’m just cynical about other stuff). They all hate extra innings, and changing game stories–even if it’s for something good like avoiding a shutout–is a bit annoying. It’s also taboo to mention how quickly a game is going.

Writing the game stories were certainly a fun and challenging experience for me, but that wasn’t my first job with the Red Sox Organization. My first job was writing the lineup on the big lineup board that everyone sees as they walk in. Everyone is pretty laid back about it, and they don’t find it to be too big of a deal, but my first time writing it, I could barely contain myself. I was so, unbelievably excited that I was going to be writing on the lineup board. I wrote every name meticulously, and made sure that I didn’t make a single error. Let me tell you, if I start to look back over my math exams the way I looked over the lineup card, I’ll probably start making A’s in math.

Another task I took pride in was making everyone nameplates and laminating them for the Picnic at the Park event. Some of the players are such clowns (I mean this in a good way, of course). James Rice tried to convince me that he was Yamaico Navarro, which I bought for half a second. Ryne Lawson tried to tell me that I misspelled his first name, and that it’s actually “Ryan”. Casey Kelly continued to give me spelling lessons, the first of which was all the way back in Spring Training (you can read about the first lesson in that link). He told me that Anthony is spelled with two ‘e’s’ at the end instead of a ‘y’, and then I mentioned the whole analysis/analyses ordeal. “Yeah, I guess you’re just not a very good speller,” Casey said.

I guess that’s a nice transition to all of my conversations with the players. Some formal, some informal, some both. On the first day, both Luis Exposito and Anthony Rizzo recognized me from Spring Training, but we didn’t get to talk much. On the second day, however, we were hanging out during batting practice before they had to get interviewed, and we were just talking about Miami.

Mr. Cameron mentioned that he would be happy to set up interviews with the players for me. That’s something I had never done before: a formal interview. Sure there was that time I sat down with Michael Bowden in Pawtucket, and we talked for three hours. But I didn’t have a single question prepared. I just asked whatever came to mind. This time, I had questions prepared, and Mike Antonellis (the radio broadcaster) even let me borrow his recorder. Before I started that though, his assistant, DJ, asked me, “Do you want to do the pre-game interview for the radio?” Of the three guys I had planned on interviewing (Ryan Khoury, Anthony Rizzo, and Luis Exposito), we decided to have Expo for the pre-game interview since they hadn’t had him on yet. That was even more nerve racking than writing the game stories. With the game stories, I had the convenience of a backspace button. All I had here was a recorder and my notes, so I had to avoid stuttering at all costs.&nbsp
;

I have all of the audio files, but the sound quality is best for the Exposito one, so I’ve transcribed the other two. These are kind of long, but I asked about things that I didn’t understand as a baseball fan, and what they had to say was simply interesting and eye opening. I understand the game more.

Anthony Rizzo Interview

Favorite player on the Marlins (his favorite team growing up): Gary Sheffield

Favorite player in baseball: “Ken Griffey Jr. [He] was everyone’s favorite. I tried to hit like him, be like him.”

Best Marlins game he had ever been to: One of the earlier World Series games in ’97.

Then I asked him which pitch was the easiest for him to hit and the hardest for him to hit. I told him I wouldn’t write it because I thought that might not be something a player wants around the internet. I’m gonna tell you what he said, though, because it really just demonstrates the confidence he has in himself as a player. Why? Because there is not a pitch that he can’t hit:

“Well obviously the easiest is the fastball down the middle,
but I mean it’s not really… I can hit every pitch, it depends on how they throw
it, when they throw it, where they throw it… If they throw a slider away, and I
don’t recognize it. Just depends where it is, when it is, the quality of it.” I really hope this isn’t a “breach of trust” or whatever. The only reason I’m publishing it is because when he said it, I was thinking: ‘Wow, his confidence is impressive. He’ll try anything.” If he had said a specific pitch, I would not have written it.

E: You only have… less than a second to decide whether or not you’re going to hit a pitch. Are there ever times when you’re just like “Screw it, I’m just gonna hit the next pitch.”?

AR: There have been times in the box when you get ready and you’re
not set, and he throws it, and youre not set, and well don’t swing cuz youre not
gonna be able to do anything with it, but there’s times when I’ll just look at
it and try to time it.

E: Does the count have an impact on your mentality?

AR: Advantage counts like 2-0, 3-0, 3-1 you’re gonna get a
fastball for the most part, gear up for fastball, lookin for it, if it’s not
there you just swing thorugh it or don’t swing

E: Is there a difference between facing starters, relievers, and closers for you? And how do you change your approach?

AR: I don’t change my approach against them. Maybe against a
starter I’ll try to see a couple more pitches my first at-bat just to see what
he’s like. But the relievers, I mean guy is in the bullpen for a reason. They
don’t have the stuff that starters do. I don’t want to say easier, but you like
to get to the bullpen.

E: Is there a mentality change for you if you have men on base, if there are a certain amount of outs in an inning, or if there’s a difference in the score?

AR: Guy on third, if a guy leaves an offspeed pitch up, I don’t
care where it is, I’ll swing so I can drive him in. just get a fly ball to
center or wherever. One out, two out, just try and get on base.

E: If you’re trying to get a fly ball or a ground ball, do you swing differently?

AR: Pitches up ball, fly ball, down, ground ball

E:Favorite ballpark? (Majors, then minors)

AR: Fenway/Hadlock Field

E: If you could play catch with any player of all time, who would you choose?

AR: Babe Ruth

E: Biggest transition from aluminum to wooden bats?

AR: It’s weighted differently,
the wood bats. But in high school I swung wood bats a lot, so it wasn’t really
that difficult.

E: Hypothetically speaking, if you’re in a slump, how long do you want before changing your mechanics?

RK: Not really as far as stance, but I had a Ken Griffey Jr
outfield glove as my infield glove when I was 11, but I just had to have it
because it had Ken Griffey’s name on it.

Like Anthony, I also asked Ryan about his easiest and hardest pitch to hit. He also said straight fastball for easiest, but he did have an answer for the most difficult pitch to it, so I won’t mention that. That doesn’t mean he is any less of a ballplayer, it just means that some pitches are harder to hit than others.

E: Does the count have an impact on your at-bat?

RK: Once you move up to higher levels here, and especially
triple-A, pitchers obviously have more control and they’re willing to throw
off speed pitches in counts when they’re behind and you’re ahead. Like maybe a
2-0 count. But in college ball and in the low minors you’re pretty much gonna
see a fastball 100% because they want to throw something that they can throw a
strike with. But when you move up that starts to get less and less. When youre
in the lower minors you can kind of figure out what they’re gonna throw by the
count. Usually if theyre behind in the count they’ll come with a fastball cuz
they don’t want to walk people but it definitely has an impact and obviously
the scouting reports we have on guys we keep track of what they throw when
theyre ahead in the count, behind in the count so that helps us out a lot.

E: Hardest level transition?

RK: My first year I went from Lowell to Pawtucket cuz one of the
guys retired so I was supposed to go in for a day or two, but it ended up being
longer so that ended up being interesting. But I guess I’d say from High-A to
Double-AA. It’s just kind of what I was talking about before, just that they
pitch you a little bit differently, they have more control, and they’re able to
throw their offspeed pitches for strikes and they’ll throw it at any count. Kind of low minors you see straight fastballs and up here you see cutters and
two seamers, which is still a little bit of a fastball it just has some
movement on it, so that’s probably the biggest difference

E:Does it take you long to adjust to a new manager?

RK: Every manager that I’ve been with has been pretty much the
same they just kind of let you go and do your thing, and they’ll help you out a
little bit, but I haven’t really had anyone that I’ve had to adjust to or they
make you adjust to them

E: Difference between facing starters, relievers, and closers?

RK: Starters for the most part are they have a little bit higher
arsenal of pitches obviously because they have to face more batters so they
need to get through the lineup once or twice at least where as middle relievers
only have to face only have to go one inning or two, they’re only facing you
one time so they don’t need to have you know the four or five different pitches
and then closers obviously are probably gonna go with their two best pitches
maybe a third because they just need to get three outs so theres definitely a
difference in kind of their pitch repertoires.

E: Is there a mentality change for you if you have men on base, if there are a certain amount of outs in an inning, or if there’s a difference in the score?

RK: We work a lot on when we are in those pressure situations
how we deal with pressures to not really think of the situation. I mean obviously if there is a
guy on third and no outs you change your approach a little bit to where you
want to get a flyball to the outfield or to get a sac fly if you don’t get a
hit but as far as changing your approach we try to stay fairly similar in our
at bats in those different situations.

E: If you could play catch with any baseball player of all time?

RK: Ken Griffey Jr. or Bob Gibson

E: Favorite video game, movie, food.

RK: NCAA Football/Step Brothers/Enchiladas or chicken and rice or sushi

E: Biggest fear?

RK: Not having fun in life and not really getting out of life
whatever comes your way. I mean I don’t really set specific, exact goals of what
exactly I want to do because life is always kind of changing. Kind of not
appreciating life and not having fun and living in the moment.

pregame Expo Interview.MP3: This is the interview that was on the radio before Weiland’s game. I was able to interview Weiland the day following his start. I didn’t want to interview him just because he threw so well. I had wanted to interview him before because I think he is highly underrated and constantly overlooked.

Kyle Weiland interview

E: Favorite food, movie, book, video game

KW: Prime rib/Bull Durham/Scar Tissue/Call of Duty 5

E: Biggest fear?

KW: Drowning

E: Impact of having an extra day off, or having to sit through a rain delay on your mentality?

KW: You just have to make adjustments especially in this league
especially early around theres a lot of switching around it’s just something
you have to get used to. Don’t let it affect you. Same approach next day. Delay
keep your mind occupied until it’s time to get after it.

E: Do you change your approach when pitching from the stretch?

KW: Last year was when I learned actually pitching with guys on
base it’s something you acquire to be able to hold baserunners on and be able
to make quality pitches still from the stretch. Something I worked on last year
and this year it has kind of become second nature instead of something that’s
on the back of my mind.

E: Did you ever bat in college?

KW: I got one at-bat in college. I’m batting 1.000 in college. First
pitch I went up there swining. I got a base hit through the hole in left. I hit
a lot in high school I was probably a better hitter than pitcher in my senior
year.

E: Do you miss it?

KW: Not watching these guys in this league pitch I don’t think
id be very successful in the box

E: How is running the bases different from sprinting (theoretically)?

KW: I think you can accidentally just go a little overboard and
not know it just because adrenaline is going and it’s not something youre used
to do it and youre gonna give it all your effort.

E:Superstitions?

KW: If I wear a certain pair of socks the start before and it was
a good outing then I wear them the next time.

E: I noticed your changeball working well last night, and you were getting a lot of outs with it. Is that your out pitch?

KW: I would definitely say that my curveball is the out pitch.
My changeup was working last night and that allowed me to use my fastball and
curveball right.

E: Sox Prospects describes your curveball as a “slurve.” Do you agree with that? How do you describe it?

KW: It depends on the day. Sometimes it’s more slurvely,
sometimes it’s more up and down. I don’t fight to get a certain pitch one
outing. Whatever comes up that day that’s what I adjust to.

*This is where my makeshift recorder dies*

E: I’ve seen so many pitchers throw badly, why do you think that is?

KW: Probably adjusting from a 60 foot throw to a 30 foot throw.

E: Difference between facing batters with aluminum vs wooden bats?

KW: If you jam guys with aluminum bats, they can still muscle it out in college, but it breaks in pro.

E: Toughest level jump and why?

KW: Toughest was the beginning because I skipped Greenville. I put too much pressure on myself. I learned how to pitch last year.

E: What do you mean by that?

KW: Basically making adjustments if a pitch isn’t working. Especially at this level.

E: Biggest thing you got out of spring training?

KW: Watching the big leaguers.

E: Hobbies in down time?

KW: Video games and guitar

E: If you weren’t playing baseball, what would you be doing instead?

KW: Finishing my anthropology major.

I started to become a lot more comfortable sitting in the press box. I was all set up with my laptop and my notebook. I would look up statistics before a game, and the starters’ arsenal, so I could identify each pitch. They give you a lot of resources in the press box like game notes, which give you interesting, misc. tidbits about the game. It’s really quite helpful to look through it before a game.

Everyone in the press box was very kind. I even got to meet Dick Berardino, who is currently a player development consultant for the Red Sox, and has been a part of the organization for a long time. Carl Beane, the PA announcer at Fenway, as also around, so I was able to meet him as well.

What I really appreciated from Mr. Cameron and Mr. Antonellis was not only how welcoming they were, but how much they seemed to trust me. They really let me do a lot of hands on things. The fact that they trusted me enough to write official game stories and do pregame interviews really meant the world to me. And let me tell you, the view from the press box there is nothing short of spectacular.

7 Comments

The article you said your enjoyed writing most was the best of that bunch. I was a bit hesitant when you started it almost like a Poe story with the Foggy night. If it had been a yellow Prufrock foggy night out of the T.S. Eliot canon, and you referenced that somehow without going Dennis Miller humor on your audience I would’ve said … shut up, college has nothing to teach you.

Actually. College has very little to teach you. Your interviewing was random and spitfire good. Keep them honest and out of the cliches with a little levity. See, I’m a failed journalism major turned English/Creative Writing/History major burn out slacker. Your prose is very well. If you haven’t already, study Hemingway’s sentence structure and how he choose words to make you almost taste the fruit he’s describing. (He was a Toronto Star correspondent after all) If you can nail that sort of thing down, cultivate your own schtick, and use college more for networking journalism (and learn whatever they try to tell you without frying your mind on deadlines), I am confident you will be a journalism Jedi sooner than later..

I though I was the only crazy person taking close up pictures of the line-up board. Time to find a new quirk.
Reading this was time very well spent. I’m dying to go to Portland. Chapel Hill and the downtown feel…huh?
: o
Mikehttp://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/

Wow, another unbeleiveable experience. How do you plan on topping this next summer? Can’t wait until my trip to Portland next summer, now.
–Mike
‘Minoring In Baseball’http://burrilltalksbaseball.mlblogs.com

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